Udaipur, Rajasthan

We've been in Udaipur a day and LOVE it. It's gorgeous - loads of tiny winding pathways, crazy traffic (as per usual) and temples dotted around the lake. Our hostel, Lal Ghat Guesthouse, is awesome - we pay only 100 rupees (about 2 dollars) a night for a bed with curtains, a storage locker, hot(!) showers, and an incredible rooftop view of the lake. Yesterday we wandered around town and managed to find an Israeli restaurant which served humus and falafal for lunch - yum! We went to the City Palace for the afternoon and walked around the King's Palace. The princess of India is having a wedding there on the seventh of March, so it is all being renovated ready for the occasion. We understand why it's called the romantic city - everything is bleached white and reflected in the lake, and the city is nestled in the mountains. Our favourite part of the palace was the peacock mosaic courtyard - it was made with glass imported from belgium and was very beautiful with the light bouncing off the mosaics and creating a glow on the walls. After the palace we went to a yoga ashram in ashtang yoga. It was alright, but not very challenging and the instructor talked for most of it - not quite what we had been expecting! After that we went to a rooftop restaurant to see a James Bond movie. Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur, and all of the restaurants screen the movie from their rooftops so you can just look around at the buildings in which it was filmed. It was a lovely night - we had delicious thali (a platter of four different vegetable curries, chapati, papad, curd and salad) and there were fireworks going on in the distance. Perched on top of a nearby mountain was the Monsoon Palace, all lit up and towering over the city. This morning we awoke at 8am for a morning rooftop yoga class but the instructor was absent. We did, however, continue the class as like a community yoga class with a lady from Ethiopia, a man from Bangalore and another man (we have no idea where he's from). It was really fun and we got to learn all about the different types of yoga people do. Camilla did her first real attempt at a headstand to questionable success. It was a lovely start to the morning doing yoga on a rooftop overlooking the lake! We had breakfast afterwards at a rooftop cafe sitting on a raised sofa in an alcove with chai masala and omelette and porridge. So far, Rajasthan is looking great!!